Himanta Biswa Blames Miya Muslims For Surge In Vegetable Prices; Owaisi Hits Back

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi hit back at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for blaming the soaring prices of vegetables on Muslim vendors.

Owaisi claimed that there is a group in the country who will blame their personal failures on "Miya bhai" as well.

Sarma kicked up a huge controversy on Friday by claiming Muslim vegetable sellers are jacking up vegetable prices, and if "Assamese people" sold vegetables, they would've never charged "their Assamese people" more.

"Who are the people who have increased the price of vegetables so much? They are Miya traders, who are selling vegetables at a higher price," Sarma reportedly said.

"Miya traders are charging high prices for vegetables from Assamese people in Guwahati, while the price of vegetables is low in the villages. If Assamese traders were selling vegetables today, they would never have charged more from their Assamese people," he added, according to a BBC report.

'Miya', in local parlance, refers to Bengali-speaking Muslims who live in Assam but are believed to have originally migrated from Bangladesh.

Taking exception to Himanta Biswa Sarma's statement, Owaisi tweeted "There is a group of people in this country who will blame the Miya Muslims if their buffalo does not give milk, if their hen does not lay eggs. They will blame Miya Muslims for all their personal failures too."

The AIMIM chief also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying there's deep friendship going on between the PM and foreign Muslims.

"Nowadays, Modiji has a deep friendship with foreign Muslims. Get some tomatoes, spinach and potatoes from them," Owaisi added.